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June 2010

June 29, 2010

My friend Sean occasionally writes for the blog. For a long time, he has been searching for a way to live that makes him truly happy. He doesn't believe in the rat race. He wants to find a way to live that doesn't rely on stuff and corporations but on people and community. His thinking interests me because he, like me, believes that if people look for a way of life that is truly good for them, chances are it will be better for the planet too. Anyway, here's Sean's latest.

“I was looking for a job and then I found a job, and heaven knows that I’m miserable now...”

That line is from a song called “Heaven Knows” by Morrissey, the king of adolescent angst. Every time I listen to it, I burst out laughing because I completely identify with the sentiment. I need to work, but I don’t always want to work. I want to spend time with friends, I want to take walks, I want to enjoy life. Who doesn’t? I want my work to be part of my life, but not the end of it.

In the past, whenever I dwelled on this my solutions came in the form of stern commands to myself, for example, “Quit whining. Suck it up. This is life. Grow up,” etc. And for the most part, that’s what I did. I showed up, I made a buck, I did what I had to do. I got a job that wasn’t perfect, but it paid the bills. Then I got laid off. I was scrambling, and my wife was working long hours to keep us afloat. That was a couple of years ago, and as I faced looking for a job, and then maybe finding a job, I realized I needed a major change. I applied for a job teaching English in rural Japan, and I was lucky to get it, and so I left my world behind.

In my time in Japan, I’ve learned two very important things. First, I realized that I need to be around people like me. I love Japan, but boy do I get lonely out here.

Secondly, and just as important, I learned that I don’t need much to be comfortable. My wife, son and I live in a small apartment. I take home about $2,000 a month, much less than we did in New York, and we never go without. We don’t count our pennies, we don’t feel as if we’re making a sacrifice, we take little trips and we buy what we need. The thing is, we just don’t need to buy much stuff.

So, now that I know I don’t need much money, and I want to be near friends, what to do? I read that the healthiest lifestyle involves low intensity exercise throughout the day. I keep having these crazy fantasies about getting some land, putting some shipping container houses on it, and living with friends on the cheap. A place with gardens, bike paths, and always someone to talk to or start a project with. I have some savings, so this dream isn’t completely impossible. The hard part is convincing others to join me.

I’m not talking about a commune, or even an active rejection of modern life. I’m just talking about a way of life that puts having some fun at the center, a way for people who want to garden, to make music, to play games, or to just have a good conversation, and live cheaply enough that we’re not working all our waking hours to pay the bills on a lifestyle that keeps us in our seats, dreaming of a better life. As I contemplate a return to the US, I realize that I don’t want to return to a life of scheduled exercise, paid for entertainment, and constant worry about the rising monthly costs on a life that I’m barely living. I want to live with friends, have fun, and enjoy this midlife crisis I seem to be having.

In short, I want to make a retirement community for people who want to retire from the rat race, but not from their life’s work. I want to find a way for people to make what they really care about the focus of their life. How would we make a living? I’m not sure. I do know I don’t need that much to thrive and I like to move around during the day. What do you think? Am I just dreaming, or can this be done?

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Colin Beavan (that's me!) is now leading a conversation about finding a happy, helpful life at Colinbeavan.com. If you want to know how people are breaking out and and finding authentic, meaningful lives that help our world, check it out the blog here and sign up to join the conversation here.

June 08, 2010

This Thursday June 10, the U.S. Senate will vote on Senator Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) "Dirty Air Act" resolution. The vote is, sadly, too close to call -- and we need your help! The "Dirty Air Act" resolution would gut the Clean Air Act's ability to crack down on the dirtiest climate polluters like Big Oil and Dirty Coal.

My friend Gillian Caldwell of 1Sky recorded a video about the importance of this vote, and why we all need to step up and tell our senators to reject this move to gut the Clean Air Act. Watch the video, then send your senators a message: tell them to vote 'NO' on Murkowski's "Dirty Air Act" (S.J. Res 26).

The Gulf Coast oil disaster and the recent coal mine tragedy in West Virginia show us what happens when we let dirty polluters run amok. Now Senator Murkowski wants to take away our best tool to keep these companies from further wrecking our lives and the planet with their climate pollution.

Please take action right away! Tell your senators to stand up to dirty polluters like BP and Massey energy by voting 'NO' on the Murkowski resolution.

All you have to do is click here and enter your zip code and you will be given your senators' phone numbers. Remember, a phone call counts for more than an email!

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Colin Beavan (that's me!) is now leading a conversation about finding a happy, helpful life at Colinbeavan.com. If you want to know how people are breaking out and and finding authentic, meaningful lives that help our world, check it out the blog here and sign up to join the conversation here.

June 01, 2010

Hey folks, I'm excited to report that No Impact Man is out in paperback this week (borrow it from your library or share with friends a copy from your local bookseller, Amazon, or BN.com). Anyway, I've been doing a new round of press interviews so I thought I'd let you in one email interview I just did.

Why did you decide to begin this experiment?

In 2006, we had both the Iraq war and news of the melting of the polar ice caps. This was terribly depressing. On the one hand, we were fighting a war for the oil to power our corporatized way of life. On the other, we were melting the planet as a result of burning that oil for the same way of life. In between we had the way of life itself, which didn't seem to be making people happy. Americans are stressed. They work too much. Twenty-seven percent of us suffer from anxiety and depression. It just didn't seem like a way of life to fight a war and kill a planet for. So what if we could possibly discover a way of life that was both happier for the people and happier for the planet? That's what I wanted to look for.

Did you succeed in having no impact?

There is actually no such thing as zero impact. We eat. We breathe. But the question is, why are we making an impact? So much of it is waste. Throwing away packaging we don't even want. Burning jet fuel on business travel that makes most people miserable--that is a waste of life *and* resources. So what we did was reduce our negative impact as much as possible. But to have no *net* impact, we also tried to have positive impact. That way the negative impact and the positive impact could be added together to make no net impact. This doesn't really make scientific sense but it does make philosophical sense: is it possible to do more good than harm? And the answer to that question--the question of whether we succeeded--is yes.

Was it more difficult for your wife or for you?

It was both harder and better for Michelle. She says that she was addicted to shopping and convenience. But when we broke our bad habits and found that we spent more time together as a family, ate better, got more exercise, it was she who had the biggest benefit and learning. She has not returned to shopping and TV, for example. Isn't there more to being a human being than shopping and TV anyway? Why are we always building shopping malls instead of theaters and concert halls and parks?

You stopped eating non-local food in NYC! Was it difficult?

Not as hard in NY as you would think because we live near the country's largest farmer's market. Our choices were restricted in winter but glorious in summer. And we ended up eating way more healthily. It turns out that the environmental choice is also the healthy choice.

What about coffee and tea?

What about them? We gave up on not drinking coffee in the end. Is the planet worth saving if you can't drink coffee?

What about your daughter?

She is the teacher in all things. People ask me what do we need to give our children? I say we simply need to be careful about what we take away. Isabella cares more about relationships and people than things. She wants to play in the fountain, not work hard to buy a bigger house or a faster car. She teaches us to savor what we already have instead of making ourselves and the planet miserable trying to get what we don't have. We have a game we play. I ask her, "Why are we alive?" She says, "To joke and laugh." I ask, "And what is our responsibility?" She says, "To make sure other people can joke and laugh too!"

Was your life more complicated?

The big question these days is how do you get your personal information to synchronize between your computer, your iPhone and your iPad. That sounds pretty complicated to me. You can go to work, work ten hours, wait for you check to be deposited in your bank, go to the ATM, walk to the store, and buy some bread. Or you can just bake some bread. Which is more complicated? It's not that I'm saying we should all be baking our own bread. It's just that we're out of balance and out of touch. This has led to a system that is destroying our planet. Perhaps the sadder part is that it is destroying our souls, too.

What did you keep and what did you get rid of after the project was over?

It makes sense to eat food with no unpronounceable poison chemicals in it, so we still prefer food from our trustworthy, local farmer. Rather than take a taxi to the gym so that we can then run in place on the treadmill, it makes sense to get our exercise as part of day by biking and walking. It makes sense to save money so we've cut our power consumption.

What didn't make sense was washing our clothes by hand when there was no electricity! So that means that we must also work together to change the systems to ensure that our electricity and other needs are met sustainably. The point is not to deprive ourselves. The point is to make sure that the resources we use actually make people happy and that those resources are renewable.

Your conclusion, for you and your family?

That we all can make a difference. That when you perceive terrible problems in the world it can be better to actually address yourself to them instead of waiting for someone else to be the first.

What was the opinion of your friends about this experiment?

Go to NoImpactProject.org/experiment. There you will see that there is a program where people can try what we did for a week. 10,000 people have tried it. You should try it too! It turns out I now have a lot of friends!

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Colin Beavan (that's me!) is now leading a conversation about finding a happy, helpful life at Colinbeavan.com. If you want to know how people are breaking out and and finding authentic, meaningful lives that help our world, check it out the blog here and sign up to join the conversation here.